Spelling
1. Adding –s to nouns
Most nouns simply add an –s to form the plural
book → books,
computer → computers,
cat → cats, edge → edges
The exceptions are:
Add –es to nouns ending in:
–s or –ss: bus → buses, business → businesses
–x: tax → taxes, fox → foxes, box → boxes
–ch: church → churches, match → matches except: stomach → stomachs
–sh: leash → leashes, dish → dishes
Nouns ending in –o can add either –s or –es
zero → zeros, studio → studios, potato → potatoes, tomato → tomatoes
But: ghetto → ghettos/ghettoes, flamingo → flamingos/flamingoes
Nouns that end in a consonant + -y change the –y to –ies
baby → babies, story → stories, country → countries
Nouns that end in a vowel + -y (-ay/-ey/ -oy/ -uy) only add –s
monkey → monkeys, tray → trays, toy → toys, day → days
Nouns that end in –f or –fe change to –ves
knife → knives, half → halves
2. Adding –s to verbs
Most verbs simply add an –s to form the third person
eat → eats, treat → treats, sleep → sleeps, work → works
The exceptions are:
Add –es to verbs ending in
–ss: miss → misses, pass → passes
–zz: buzz → buzzes
–x: mix – mixes, tax → taxes
–ch: catch – catches, watch → watches, touch → touches
–sh: push – pushes, wash → washes
–o: do → does, go → goes, echo → echoes
Verbs that end in a consonant + -y change the –y to –ies
carry → carries, try → tries, study → studies
Verbs that end in a vowel + -y only add –s
pay → pays, say → says, play → plays
3. Adding –ing to verbs
Most verbs simply add an –ing to the verb
eat → eating, treat → treating, sleep → sleeping, work → working
The exceptions are:
Verbs that end in an –e, lose the –e
use → using, smoke → smoking, write → writing
Verbs that end in –ee, keep the –ee
agree → agreeing, see → seeing
Verbs that end in –ic change to –ick
picnic → picnicking, traffic → trafficking
Verbs that end in –ie, change to –y
lie→ lying, tie → tying
We double the last consonant if:
The verb has one syllable and ends in a vowel + consonant
sit → sitting, stop → stopping, →plan → planning
except: play → playing, show → showing
The verb has two syllables and the second syllable is stressed
begin → beginning, admit → admitting but differ → differing
The verbs ends in a vowel + l
travel → travelling, equal → equallinge
4. Adjectivs and adverbs ending in -e
The adjective ends in -e + r/st (comparative and superlative forms)
Fine → finer, finest
late → later, latest
- The adjective ends in -e + ly (making an adverb)
nice → nicely, close → closely
- The adjective ends in -le + ply / bly, etc. (making an adverb)
simple → simply, possible → possibly
5. Doubling the final consonant
We saw in a previous point above that if a verb has two syllables and the second syllable is stressed, as well as if verbs ends in a vowel + l, we double the final consonant. However, there are other situations when we have to double the final consonant:
- Word ends in vowel + consonant + -ing/-ed/-er/-est:
Stop → stopped, stopping, stopper
put → putting
big → bigger, biggest
run → runner, running
set → setter, setting
6. Adding –ed to verbs
Most verbs simply add an –ed to the verb
help → helped, treat → treated, work → worked
The exceptions are:
- Verbs that end in an –e, add –d
use → used, smoke → smoked, like → liked
- Verbs that end in –ee, keep the –ee
agree → agreed, free → freed
- Verbs that end in –ic change to –ick
picnic → picnicked, traffic → trafficked
- Verbs that end in a consonant + y, change to –ie
try → tried, fry → fried, reply → replied
- We double the last consonant if:
- The verb has one syllable and ends in a vowel + consonant
slam → slammed, stop → stopped, →plan → planned
except: play → played, show → showed
- The verb has two syllables and the second syllable is stressed
regret → regretted, admit → admitted but happen → happened
- The verbs end in a vowel + l
travel → travelled, equal → equalled
7. Possessive ‘s
Most nouns simply add an ‘s to the noun.
Flat → flat’s, cat → cat’s
The Exceptions are:
Regular Plural nouns add only an ’ (apostrophe)
Boys → boys’, cats → cats’, people → people’s
Singular proper nouns (names) ending in –s can add ‘s or ‘
Jones → Jones’s or Jones’ , The Smiths → The Smits’s or The Smiths’
Irregular plural nouns (not ending in –s) add ‘s
Men → men’s, children → children’s
Words like somebody, anybody, one, each other, add an ‘s
One → one’s, somebody → somebody’s
8. –ise or -ize
Most words in British English can be spelt with both –ise and –ize. However, American English prefers –ize.
British: realise, organise, hypothesise
American: realize, organize, hypothesize
Exceptions:
exercise, devise, improvise, surprise, advise, supervise, etc.
Some words are spelt with –yse in British English and -yze in American English:
British: Analyse, paralyse
American: analyse, paralyze
